East End Park

Dunfermline Athletic v Alloa Athletic

On reflection before today’s game a point away from home might seem a good point, but not for the first time this season, it was good to hear comments ” You should have won today” and with a bit of luck in front of goal “The Wasps” could have collected their first victory in the league against “The Pars” since Season 1984/85.

Jim Goodwin made five changes in the side that knocked Dundee united out of the Irn-Bru Cup last Saturday, such is the depth of pool now in “The Wasps” squad. From the outset the visitors looked to go the offsensive at every opportunity not giving their hosts time to settle into the game.

Both Jake Hastie and Dario Zanatta were proving a handful for the Dunfermline defence with their strong direct running and pace. However, neil Parry who was making his 100th first team appearance for “The Wasps” had to look lively prior to half-time to keep out Myles Hippolyte, rushing from his line to save with his feet, which was the home sides best effort in the first half.

Alloa build on confidence in the second half and had the better of the chances, Dario Zanatta was put in on goals but was denied by a last ditch saving tackle from James Craigen.

Alan Trouten then had effort blocked by centre back Mark Durnan and minutes later Andy Graham’s header gave Alan Trouten any chance which was blocked by Dunfermline keeper Lee robinson’s chest. Liam Burt who replaced trouten on the hour mark had an effort blocked heading for goal.

Dunfermline manager, Allan Johnston made a double substitution to try and turn the game and gain the three points but Alloa ended the game strongly with Jake Hastie always looking dangerous on the break. Alloa substitute Greig Spence tried a late overhead effort but in the end both teams had to settle for a share of the points.

jim goodwin at east end park

I think a point on the road in this league is always a good point but probably over the whole piece, I’m not saying we were well on top, but I think we had the best chances to win it.

We had a great chance in the first half when the ball got fizzed across and big Andy Graham was not far away from putting the ball into an empty net and in the second half we created one or two other opportunities but that has been our downfall of late certainly in our opening five games we are not scoring enough goals, on the flip side of that defensively I thought we were outstanding as a team, when you keep a clean sheet the goalkeeper and the back four get great credit, what people don’t see is the effort and the commitment of the boys up front, they really do defend at the top end of the pitch unbelievably and that’s why we make the changes as we do around the hour mark just the try and freshen things up, we ask them to go and press teams high up the park and it takes a lot of energy out of them, overall a fantastic team effort from the starting eleven and the three boys who went on.

It is frustrating that we didn’t take any of our chances because we work on this in training and I know the quality we have at that end of the pitch but it’s not something I am going to make a big deal about, I think we do have players at the top end of the pitch who are good enough to score goals at any level, but I just think for whatever reason at the moment maybe it’s not falling kindly enough to us around the box, I’m not pointing the finger at anybody in particular it’s not as if we have had any clear cut chances. Dario had a good one when he was through on goal, granted it was a fantastic tackle from Lee Ashcroft but we just need to do things a little quicker, you don’t get time, four or five seconds for the perfect opportunity, we need to do things a little bit quicker but that said it is still a fantastic point against a good team, Dunfermline Athletic have some really good players in attacking options who can hurt you. I thought my two centre halves, full backs and “Neilly” had to pull a good save in the first half, so over the piece a draw is probably fair, if I’m being honest but I do have a feeling we could have won today.

Our fitness is unbelievable, we only work for four hours a week on the training ground, it’s frightening we train two hours on Tuesday and Thursday and then it’s up to the boys, we give them a programme for during the week to do things Monday, Wednesday and Friday, they have to take that on board that’s their responsibility. We are playing against full-time teams and we are not getting run off the park, we are certainly not just hanging on for the last fifteen minutes – we are still trying to win the game. We spoke about it in the summer and I think we have shown that with the players we have brought to the club, I’m not willing to sit 5-4-1 and park the bus and try and soak up pressure, we have shown that in the opening five league games, we will take teams on and go toe to toe with them. That’s three games unbeaten now in this league and five games unbeaten including Irn-Bru Cup ties which is good for a part-time team in this league.

Today Neil Parry made his 100th appearance for the club and for me he is one the best goalkeepers outside the Premier League, his distribution is excellent but more than anything he is a fantastic presence and he gives the boys at the back great confidence, he comes for crosses all the time, he is brave enough to do that, you see in the first half he didn’t have a great deal to do and the one chance that Dunfermline had he was quick off his line and it was a great save from Myles Hippolyte to keep us in the game. He is invaluable to the club, I must say we have got the core of a squad which has been here for a long time and I think if you look down the list of appearances – Andy Graham, Iain Flannigan, Scott Taggart, Kevin Cawley, Stevie Hetherington and Greig Spence coming back to the club, half a dozen players who are really committed to Alloa Athletic FC, they love the club, they love playing for the club, and it’s great now that “Neilly” has got to that milestone.
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Dunfermline v Alloa Athletic

Paul Hartley has become the first ever Alloa Athletic manager to win back to back promotions, having also won the Third Division Championship last season, his first season since becoming Alloa Athletic manager and hanging up his boots. He is only the second ever Alloa Athletic manager to win promotion with “The Wasps” on two occasions, the other being Terry Christie in Seasons 2001/02 & 1999/2000. This season “The Wasps” finished 2nd in the league behind a superb Queen of the South team who won the league, setting a new points total having accumulated 92 points to beat the previous record held by Gretna. This season Paul Hartley’s side finished 2nd with a total of 67 points, two more league points than when they were pipped on goal difference in season 2009/10 when they had 65 points.

PAUL HARTLEY AFTER WINNING PROMOTION

I couldn’t have imaged this feeling when I took the job on, you don’t how it was going to turn out, what a rollercoaster I have been on in the past two years, it has been fantastic, some of the guys have been with us over the full two years, which has been full of joyous moments, but football has a strange way of working, you can get a bit of success, then you don’t get success and you are branded a failure, this wasn’t won over these last two games but over the season we have shown a great level of consistency. I thought we were fantastic today, I know Dunfermline got a goal and we were spooked a bit with that but Kevin Cawley could have scored a number of goals today especially in the first half had he been a bit more patient, the group of players in the dressing room are a great bunch of boys of seen that with their work ethic and their quality so I’m delighted for them. When you win things as a player you sort of take it for granted but it’s funny now as a manager – you are under pressure right away to win games – its pressure, pressure, pressure, and next season it will be the same again in the First Division, so we will look to have a good holiday, then look to the squad and look to bring in more quality players – I think we will look to enjoy tonight and the next few days but the last two games were high pressured games and I was under the scrutiny a bit, but we have come through it with flying colours.  Dunfermline Athletic were not put in this position by their players or their manager it was mismanagement from the people were in charge of the club – it’s the way Scottish Football is at the moment you just need to look at Hearts, Rangers and Dunfermline who have been struggling financially – we cannot afford for our bigger clubs to be in such a financial mess and being put into the bottom tiers of Scottish Football. At Alloa I am on a small budget, it is the way we work, it’s what we are under with crowds of around 400, we need to work with what we have, its worked the last couple of years but I will try to get better players in and there will be a lot available on the market – full time football is not the as it was 15 or 20 years ago its different, players getting to 29/30 year old are looking for part time full and we think we are a good part time club, well run, financially we are well run but I will try to bring in new players, I’m sure there will be players who will be willing to play for us. It is good thing for chairmen that there is the potential for more money coming into the Scottish game, which should work its way down through the leagues – the more money the merrier but not a lot of managers might see the difference, will I see any, maybe, maybe not but I will just deal with it. It was a good turn out by the Alloa support today, but you would hope so it was a final and they came out in good numbers today but it would help my cause if we could get a few more through the gate. Some of the players are off on holiday at the start of the week to Magaluf, I hope they have a good time but I will need to start the planning for next season as soon as Tuesday night, I hope to speak to the players and let them know who is staying and who is going – that is the down side of football – letting people go, but somebody has to do it

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Dunfermline Athletic v Alloa Athletic

Alloa Athletic had problems even before they kicked a ball at East End Park on Tuesday night, there were players stuck in traffic jams on the way to the game, therefore manager Allan Maitland after announcing his team for the Co-operative Insurance Cup 2nd Round tie against Dunfermline Athletic was then forced to make three changes to his original team. Steven McKeown and Graeme Brown were replaced in the starting eleven by Scot Buist and John Grant, while Jamie Hay was replaced on the bench by Francis Kelly, Steven McKeown managed to be on the bench, but Andy Scott had to replace Graeme Brown who was not going to be at the ground in time for kick-off. The manager then had to go with the players who had arrived and this unsettled us at the beginning of the game Ironically the only goal of the game was scored as earlier as the eighth minute with Dunfermline’s first shot at goal.

 

manager after dunfermline athletic game

At the goal we allowed Andy Kirk to run unopposed and I thought Jellie could have done better, but he said to me, gaffer the shot was flying and it was almost past me before I moved, so you have to give Andy Kirk a bit of credit for the strike. The second half we got a grip of the things and played so much better, obviously from their point of view a one goal lead is near enough and the longer it stayed at one the deeper they got, but we played with a lot of spirit, and all the things that have been missing in our play recently, it helped with Brown Ferguson and Dougie Wilson back in the team, we were so much better, great movement, Kyle was better and we only lack that cutting edge at the moment, but if we take that display into our league form, starting on Saturday against Stranraer, we will not be far away from being a good team again, the display against Dunfermline Athletic proved that but we need to make sure we carry on from that display now in our league form. Young Gregg Spence again came on for the final eleven minutes and did very well, we need to keep Bomber and Jinky fit for Saturday and let’s hope David McClune and Andy Ferguson are also available again after injury. Jamie Stevenson went off after only 16 minutes at East End Park after feeling his hamstring tighten which is a worry for Saturday, but we will have to wait and see.

 
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